New Testament Study Guides - ElectronicGospel

THEMES
If not for Matthew, Luke the physician would have the fullest account of
all, but surely Luke can be credited for having a greatly chronological effort.
Luke appears to address a Greek audience and stresses the idealism of the
Christian system and the love of all men. When placed alongside his Acts of
the Apostles, one has a history of the faith from the birth of the forerunner
up to just before the demise of Jerusalem.
Luke is an excellent storyteller, in part due to his own ability, but also
dependent upon divine inspiration of his account. He combines those
elements with the information gleaned from his research and interviews to
compile a very orderly and chronological record of the most important
person ever to live.
Luke writes more of the parables, the individuals and the resurrection
than any other writer. Although a physician, he is not afraid to soil his hands
or his narrative with tales of very common people–those considered
unworthy dogs and sinners by the Jewish religious establishment. He invites
the forgotten, downtrodden and the pagan to consider Christ by
concentrating upon children, women and social outcasts, especially as their
lives intersected the Lord’s.
Luke’s gospel is a headline about the good news of salvation from sin
and its wages. The miraculous birth of Christ is laid out in full terms and the
availability of grace is advertised as available.
Luke sketches out the Lord’s description of the kingdom, its imminent
establishment, character and destiny. Careful readers can see the correlation
between this gospel kingdom and the church that Christ died to found and
purchased with his own blood.
Luke was a scientist and like most scientists up to the twentieth century,
he was a believer in God, as well as in Christ his son. The good news of
redemption was no fairy tale. The virgin birth, miracles, messages and
resurrection were proof and evidence to this doctor that Jesus was real and
worth believing in.
Luke writes often of the place of prayer in the life of Christ, including
parables on the subject.
He emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s ministry.
Luke attaches the natural joy at the birth of Christ to his biography,
making room for inspired records of song and celebration.
Forgiveness is an important theme because it was a revolutionary and
rather unexpected development as Gentiles expected nothing and Jews set
their sights lower on military and political redemption.
Luke’s gospel emphasizes equal opportunity for women and children,
who had few legal rights in that age, but were on par with every man in the
mind of Christ. Even social outcasts–sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors–are
described as being invited to sit down with salvation.